Hi guys
I finally found some time to make a quick tutorial on sculpting and moulding a helmet. I am not at home at the moment, I am visiting my folks for christmas and can only get the images I have online on photobucket.
There are a few images that I did not take during the process cause I didnt have my camera handy at the time but if there are any questions? Just ask. I hope you enjoy.
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Firstly I scan in the images from the source book that I am working from (in this case it is The Art of Halo 3). Once I have the image scanned I then scale it up in photoshop to a relevant size to start the sculpt, knowing that final look will be very different to the starting point. My experince in working with differrent clients is that people like to change things here or there to make it suit their needs and also when working from 2D refernces you find that some of the angles dont add up and you have to translate from one image to the next to create the desired asthetic.
Once I have the image printed I then stick it onto card, foam board or whatever I have handy at the time. I then stick it down and cut it out. I now have a profile to work from.
Now with the card profile I then go to a head cast I have handy of a friend and start sculpting, holding the profile up over the centre of the head, adding clay filling in the gap between the head cast and the card profile. (I didnt take an image of this stage but here is an example from other work.)
With the profile in place I then very quickly map out a very very rough shape.
From here there is alot of sculpting bits, taking pictures and sending them to the client, making changes, taking pictures of the profile of the sculpt and comparing it in photoshop with the concept art profiles scanned.
On this one I actually printed out the initial card profile too big. So I matched up the chin and nose of the head cast with the chin and nose of the scanned concept art to work out what needed removing and changing. Putting your work into photoshop and comparing with the source material is a very good method of seeing how far out you are from the source.
I did the same with the other concept art, as we wanted to move more into that direction.
We had already decided that we wanted the helmet to resemble the ingame helmet but keeping in the style of the concept art in the book. And we deliberately wanted the strike plate off at this stage, to be sculpted later, so that the helmet could be customised for various reasons on the field of battle.
The Finished Sculpt.
To prepare the sculpt for moulding I built up a wall around the nose and connecting with the neck. The design of this has a dual role, firstly it cuts out the face from the mould so I am not wasting materials and secondly this enables me to have easy access to inside the mould for fibreglassing.
Silcone is poured all over the sculpt (Again this image is not of the helmet and this is the only one I have to hand at the mo. I'll update this later with a more relevent image when I find one.) Just imagine silicone all over the sculpt for now. :rolleyes
Once the first layer of silicone goes off I use a plastic shim (clear 1mm plastic, vac formed with keys) which I cut and stick to the first layer of silicone with a small amount of silicone mixed with a Thixotropic additive (used to thicken silicone) acting like a glue. Sellotape or Magic tape is used to stick the shim together to stop the peices flapping about. I then use a brush with Isopropanol Alcohol (IPA) to smooth the silicone. IPA is clean and evaporates and does not leave dirt on the surface so you have a good clean mould.
Leave the silicone to go off and then come back and do the next layer.
Ceramic keys are stuck onto the plastic shim as well at this stage using the Thixo again. Which I then cut out off the silicone later to be filed with resin when you do the outside jacket. (You can make your own out of balls of clay and the moulding them and casting them out in a hard material. However, I bought the plastic shim and ceramic keys from
W. P. Notcutts.)
Cutting away the silicone to reveal the keys and then pop them out. Trim the excess silicon off of the shim for your jacket to contact, and then go ahead and fibreglass***.
I use the resin without and pigments in my moulds so that I can see the air bubbles and work them out with my brush. I also finish off my mould with a finishing tissue so the fibreglass shards do not get in my hands when I work in the mould later. Once cured the fibreglass is trimmed, bolt holes are drilled and the mould is then opened. (Unfortunately I havent any pictures of fibreglassing at this moment in time.)
I cast into the two halves separately with fibreglass working out any air bubbles. When I have done two or three layers in both sides being carefull not to go over the edges where the seamline is, I then close the mould and the fibreglass the join. Leave to cure and then de-mould.
Trim the fibreglass with a vibrasaw or reciprocating saw and the finish the trimming of with a powerfile or sand paper. Then find a test subject to see if it fits.
That is about it for now. I usually apply the same or similar process of working to nearly everything that I do, be it armour, relief or sculpture with slight differences here or there depanding on what I sculpt.
When I get the time I will update this with more images and add a bit about how to fibreglass.
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***Please, when using Polyester resins or Polyurathane fast set plastics of any type, wear a mask and gloves and use the chemicals outside or in a well ventilated area. Not a bedroom or a kitchen! Even more so with Polyurathanes (as these seem the prefered casting choice on this site) as alot of them are odorless and can seriously damage health.
If you want to live till they start colonising Reach? Buy a mask!
Happy making. *thumbs up*
Master Cheese.